SAN MARCOS, Texas –  Texas State softball shutout the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns on Sunday afternoon to hand the visitors their first conference loss of the 2024 season. Texas State has improved to 33-12 on the season with a 10-5 record in conference play after the win.
 
Kat Zarate was a difference maker for the Bobcats with two hits and three RBI on the day. Her 2^nd inning two RBI double down the left field line was the first runs for the Bobcats on the day, she'd go on to hit a solo homer in the 6^th as the final run of the day.
 
Also helping the Bobcat offense was catcher Megan Kelnar. Kelnar had two hits and two RBI on the day, including the second double of the 2^nd inning that helped the Bobcats to the 4-0 lead. 
 
Pitching today was Jessica Mullins who tossed the complete game shutout, the 22^nd of her career. She allowed just four hits while walking two batters and striking out five. 
 
What Head Coach Ricci Woodard said: "The biggest thing for me is the way we went about our business today. You lose three games in a row, you never know what that's going to do to the atmosphere day in and day out. Our biggest thing today was to come back out and just play the way we play. I thought we did a really good job of that."

What Second Basemen Kat Zarate said: "We just played with a chip on our shoulder. We kept our confidence up the whole game and it's a big win for us to keep us going in conference. I'm really proud of us."
 
What Pitcher Jessica Mullins said: "I don't even think it was the defense that set the tone, we set the tone in the locker room. We knew what we had to get done and we knew what it takes to get there. Overall, it was a full team thing [to get this win today]."

How it Happened

Mullins got the start in the circle for the Bobcats and was able to start the night off with a three-pitch strikeout to catch the Ragin' Cajuns leadoff batter swinging. After Mullins walked a batter on base, Kelnar helped out defensively. Louisiana had got a single, but Kelnar made a play at the plate to get the third out for the Bobcats and keep Louisiana off the scoreboard.

After going down in order in the first, the Bobcats came out hot in the second. Starting things off was Anna Jones with a single up the middle, she'd advance when Sam Landry hit JJ Smith with a pitch. From there, the bases got loaded off a Karmyn Bass walk. Zarate doubled down the left line to bring in two of the batters, followed by Kelnar's double to bring in two more. After the second inning, Texas State led 4-0.

From there, the Bobcat defense showed out. Even after getting two runners on in the third, Mullins was able to keep the runs off the board with a strike out, foul out and a fly out.

Again in the fourth, there were two runners on and Mullins still needed three outs. Megan Kelnar caught a pop-up to get the first, but Mullins struck out back-to-back batters to strand two runners on base.

The 6^th inning again showed Mullins ability to work out of tough situations. With runners on first and third, Smith caught a pop up to prevent any runners advancing. Mullins would strike out Loecker to get the third out. 

In the bottom of the inning, Zarate hit a solo homer to left center to cap off the scoring for the Bobcats. Her fourth home run of the season sealed the 5-0 lead for the Bobcats, with just three more outs needed to end the game.

After retiring three straight batters in the 7^th, Texas State came away with the 5-0 shutout win. 

The Bobcats will return to action on Wednesday, April 17 at UTSA. The game will be at 6 pm and streamed on ESPN+. The team will then head to Monroe, Louisiana for a three game series with the ULM Warhawks.